In fact, here's a more down-to-earth idea of a high density storage: use a diamond crystal, with C-12 atoms for 'zero' bits and C-13 atoms for 'one' bits. (I learned about this idea from Charles Stross' blog). While it's not obvious how to read and write this, the concept is clearly not ruled out by the laws of physics.
Then storing 2^64 512-byte disk blocks requires 1.5 grammes of diamond (7.5 carats), while storing 2^128 blocks requires 3e16 kg (a ball of diamond with a radius of 12 km).
2^128 is a big number, but perhaps not big enough to last us through the singularity.
Then storing 2^64 512-byte disk blocks requires 1.5 grammes of diamond (7.5 carats), while storing 2^128 blocks requires 3e16 kg (a ball of diamond with a radius of 12 km).
2^128 is a big number, but perhaps not big enough to last us through the singularity.